New Hopey T-shirts $6.00 off today also "Regular Style" and cancer is stupid


Hopey the Hopeful Giraffe T-shirt from Zazzle.com

Introducing Hopey the Hopeful Giraffe T-shirts. This has been my most requested design for a t-shirt, but because of the colors it is too hard for me to silk screen myself. I set up a print on demand account at Zazzle and now you can order Hopey in many brands, colors and styles...even for babies. They have a special deal now where if you order today and use this code "JINGLESALE28" at checkout, each t-shirt is $6.00 off....and you get free shipping if you order more than $35. The offer expires at 12am tonight (Los Angeles time).



Cancer is Stupid Shirt from Zazzle.com


This is another often requested design. I made this upset squirrel for my friend who is fighting with Mantle Cell Carcinoma...a very stupid kind of cancer.


Lastly, this design of dogs enjoying each other is also available.





Regular Style! Shirt from Zazzle.com


There are also two designs (t-shirt and poster) promoting my new book. Since I haven't announced the book yet (I'm waiting to receive copies from the printer first), I am not going to show those shirts yet. However, if you are curious, you can easily find them by looking at my account on Zazzle.

Ken Tanaka Band live in Los Angeles Monday 13th

This coming Monday 13th, I will be performing a live show at 2nd Street Jazz in Los Angeles.
366 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The show goes from 9-11pm and I think we will go on around 9:45. Tickets are $10. PLease make sure you tell them you are there for Ken Tanaka when you buy your ticket.

I will be playing about 20-30 minutes and probably doing 6-8 songs with Takeo, Polo and our new guest vocalist the very handsome Teruko-Chan. Three of the songs are brand new and we've never played them for an audience before.

You can hear Teruko singing a song from Urusei Yatsura here.


Here are some of the songs you can hear.






Tokyo-77 Loves You, Goodbye



Tokyo 77 is a small diner in the Culver City neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is hidden away in an alley behind a bank and a public parking lot, and the average person walking down the street would never even know it was there. The restaurant is owned by a very friendly and handsome Japanese family. They serve mostly American diner style food with some Japanese dishes like Oyako donburi on the menu as well.

Walking into Tokyo 77 feels like traveling back in time. There are headshot photographs on the wall from American TV shows from the 70's and 80's.





The breakfast menu has three full breakfast set items for $2.75, and almost everyone eating there has been a customer for ten years or more.
In some ways it reminds me of going to a restaurant in Harmonica Yokochoo in Kichijoji, Tokyo....and being time slipped back into the Showa era.




Tokyo 77 opened 30 years ago. After three years, they moved into there current location. Many regulars have been customers for so long that they still refer to the current location as "The new place", even after 27 years.


I had not been to Tokyo 77 for many months, then a week ago I had a dream that Tokyo 77 was closing. Two days later, I took my friend Polo there for breakfast. There was a sign on the door saying " After 30 years, We are Closing. December 18th will be our last day."

It was just like in my dream. I have never had a dream that comes true before. I have had dreams about flying bears, and monkey cats who become friends and let me ride on their backs through the starry skies and together we eat juicy sweat Magalore Fruits. But those dreams didn't come true. I wish this dream hadn't come true either. I will miss Tokyo 77 very much.
Tonight I will try to dream that they are not really closing and that it was just a joke. Maybe that dream will also come true.

Fall Leaves




Today I posted the last song I will post from my June 12th jam session with Polo. We posted 6 total songs that we improvised.
This song sounds much sillier in Japanese than the English translation shows.
It's a pretty silly song.

Yesterday Polo and I went to his recording studio to work on some new songs along with our special guest female vocalist. We will be performing a 30 minute set live in Los Angeles on Monday 13th at 2nd street Jazz in Little Tokyo. I will make a full announcement about that next week.

We had so much fun making music yesterday. I couldn't stop smiling. The songs that we are making now are quite different from the improvised ones because they have drums and electric guitar too.

Happy Thanksgiving with Silly Animal Nonsense




This is a video where I give thanks to animals and the funny things they do.
This video stars siren dog, duck butt, and wild turkey friends. I hope to eat all of the turkeys one at a time.

Happy thanksgiving to everybody in the US, and anywhere else where people celebrate. I wonder if they celebrate thanksgiving in Guam, Saipan, Puerto Rico and other US territories. Does anybody know?

I am giving thanks to all my animal friends in the world, and all of you who are reading these words and have become my great friends over the internet. I love you all. Thank you all so much.

I wish everybody joy and happiness and also delicious fruits and cheeses, and happy animal friends too, oh and spaceships, and strawberry pies, and hot springs, and high speed internets, and also love and good health and monkeys of all shapes and sizes.

Butterfly on head 頭に蝶々



This is the new song by Takeo and I. This song started as an improvisation and then we changed it a little bit and added some things. It's in Japanese but with English subtitles. If you are studying Japanese, please see the video description on YouTube to see the lyrics written out in romaji (roman alphabet).


Takeo and I also made this song, which YouTube was nice enough to feature on the Japan website. Last week we got a call from a Japanese TV show asking if they can use our song in their show. I don't think it ended up happening though.







We also got to perform that song live in Los Angeles.


Kyoto



In this video I visit Kyoto. Kyoto is one of my favorite cities to visit. Kyoto is one of the few cities that was not bombed heavily during the war and so many more old buildings are preserved than in other Japanese cities. It is also the home to the most temples and shrines in Japan. You can wander around the streets of Kyoto for days and days and still make new discoveries.



This video was just posted but it is actually from the Summer. Kyoto is famous for its miserable Summers, and this year's was one of the worst. It was so hot that there were very few people on the street from 11am-4pm . Just walking a few blocks during mid-day made me feel like I would lose consciousness and go into a steamy Kyoto dream land.



Here are some other past videos I made about Kyoto in past years.



This one shows coffee shops of KYoto



This one has more images of kYoto

Rock Eater- NEw Song with Polo



Polo and I made about 7 improvised songs one day. This is the latest one I've posted. Polo is a professional guitarist and plays for bands and as a session guitarist. He is a very nice man.
This is kind of a strange song. I wasn't sure if I should post it or not...so I put it on my Kentanakajapan channel....instead of my main one.

There is a free Mp3 here if anyone wants it
Free Mp3 http://depositfiles.com/files/t6k4z4lff



Here are some of the other songs we made that day.








Surfing in Japan and Garage Saling in America



In this video, my musician/surfer friend Polo and I go to Ikumi beach in Koofu prefecture and surf. We also met a Japanese pro surfer named Hiro. He is a very nice man.


NOw I am in Los Angeles and I went to garage sales where I found some interesting surf and skateboard memorabilias.

This is a vintage Hawiian aloha shirt from the 40's. It has scenes of surfers and King Kamehameha. This is a rare picture shirt type that was made in the late 30's and early 40's in Hawaii. I found this at a garage sale in Los Angeles a while ago.
It's very handsome.






Today I went to garage sales in Venice and I found this 1978 original dog town skateboard. There is a documentary called Dog Town and Z-boys about the skating and surf scene in Venice, California in the 70s.
This skateboard is from that era. It has old "tracker" brand trucks and kryptonic wheels. I plan toride it around Venice beach and spray paint VBWL (Venice Break WAter Local) everywhere I go.



Have you seen him?




I won't say what this video is about. It's only 40 seconds long, so you will find out soon.
This is from a coin laundry in Los Angeles that is open very late.
My friend always says that the neon lights make it look like a pornography shop.
I wash my clothes there a lot and I haven't seen any pornography though, well, maybe a little bit, but none that was for sale.

The bulletin board at the laundry reminds me of the move 28 days later, where they show a tree that is stapled with lots of missing person flyers after the zombie virus breaks out.
Instead of missing persons, there are lonesome single socks, pinned to the cork board.
I hope they find what they are looking for.
someday.

Everything Baby is Delicious



I got these baby tangerine (Mikan) at a farmer's market. I always eat a baby tangerine every chance I get. They are so tiny and sour and cute and delicious.

Babies are always more delicious and sweet and tender than grown up things. Why do babies taste so good?

Here are some of my favorite babies to eat. Did I miss any of your favorites?

Baby carrot,
Baby Corn,
Baby pig (piglet),
Baby cupcake,
Baby tomato,
Baby cow,
Baby sheeps,
Unborn baby fishes (salmon eggs and smelt, and others)
Baby chickens,
Baby pancakes ( I call a small bit of pancake batter that drips onto a fry pan "baby pancake" and they are flat and tasty.)
Baby Gooses (Gosling)
Baby Shitake,
Sugar Babies,
Baby Ruth bar,

パーキング　瀬戸大橋　与島PA



Polo and I recently drove from Okayama to Kochi to surf in the Kaifu area. We passed the very handsome Seto Bridge connection Shikoku with mainland Japan. This Parking area (Yoshima PA) was on an island half way over the bridge.

In this video we teach you about Japanese Parking areas and how to see parking area in Japanese by speaking English.

We also visited the town of Naruto. From it's name, you might guess that Naruto is famous for Ramen...but it is actually known for it's delicious Udon noodles. Umai n dattebayo!

If you like the background music, you can see us playing it in this video.

How to Speak Fluent Japanese without leaving your chair.




People are always asking me for advice on how to learn to speak Japanese. I was brought to Japan as a very small, white baby so I never really had to study Japanese. The best I can do at teaching Japanese is this.




If you want some other teaching sources in additiion to my "Japanese without saying a word" video series, here are a few.


1. Maggie Sensei
Maggie is a Japanese dog who teaches Japanese. She also has 8 breasts, which should make her very popular on the internet.
http://www.maggiesensei.com/jp/

2. Miss Hannah MInx theaches Simple phrases for the beginner. You can also see here in some of my videos.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MissHanna...

3. Tofugu
Koichi's website teaches Japanese and Japanese culture. His blog has useful tips and is free. He also has a subscription service.

Http://www.tofugu.com

These three sites are a good start for learning Japanese at your desk.
I also recommend going to your local library and borrowing all of the language CDs that they have. Listen to them all until you find one that works for you. Put it on your ipod and listen while you exercise or color in your coloring books.
This is what I have been doing to try to learn some Chinese.

Xie xie...

More Found Photos- Honeymoon Monk



This is another photo found in the same photo book as the previous one. The description says "Honeymoon "81- Penang Island, Maylasia". I'm not sure if this is the honeymoon for the dad shown at the Triangle Park in the last photo, or his son or daughter.

Most of the photos from this book are from the 80's but the design of the photo album and the background looks more like it is from the late 60's or early 70's. I like to imagine that the family also bought this photo album at a garage sale (in unused condition) in 1979 and started to use it as their family photo album.

If I ever go on a honeymoon, I hope there are monkeys around.

Found Photos



One of my favorite things about Los Angeles is the garage sales.
I like to go every weekend and look through people's old boxes of dusty possessions.
Last Saturday I found an old family photo book full of photographs.
The above "Dad on Easter Sunday" was one of them.
I think this must have been at the Triangle Land in Rohnert Park, California.
According to Wikipedia
"Triangle Land" is one of the only places in the world where triangles can be seen in their natural habitat.
I hope to someday pose with Jonathan and Linda Smith in front of a triangle too.

How to speak fluent Japanese without barking a word




Because of my How to Speak Fluent Japanese Without Saying a Word videos, I get many Youtubers every week emailing me and asking how they can learn Japanese.

Since I lived in Japan from the time I was a very small, white baby, I never had to worry much about learning to speak Japanese. My videos with Remi-chan are my best attempt to teaching the Japanese language. For those who want more, I recommend that you learn Japanese from the internet's most handsome French Bulldog Maggie Sensei. Maggie teaches English and Japanese on her very handsome website. http://www.maggiesensei.com/jp/

There are new lessons uploaded frequently and you can learn all kinds of useful phrases and vocabulary.

If you are trying to study Japanese, I hope you will check it out.

Also from Ken Tanaka ...





"Polar Bear, Polar Bear What the F**k?" This is another Ken Tanaka Picture book title that will be added to the page on my previous post "Ken Tanaka Picture Books- Collect Them All". This is the story of Jacob the Upset Polar Bear and his voyage across the sea.

Jacob the Polar Bear came up with the name for this book himself.
I was quite happy with it, but yesterday, at the bookstore,
I found a series of books by Bill Martin and Eric Carle with similar names.
I guess it's still a good name though.
I wonder if Jacob Polar Bear had those books read to him when he was a cub.




Getting ready to publish my new book



My book is finished and I'm now getting it ready to publish. The above drawing is not really part of the book, but it will appear on the inside cover.

Last weekend I sold my t-shirts and some advance, home made copies of my book at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. It was very fun, and I met many nice people. I also saw a lot of friends from the art world and people I had met at Comic Con in San Diego.

I haven't found a publisher for my book yet, but I did give a copy to the Mcsweeney's publishing booth at the Expo. So far I have only shown it to 3 publishers. I am also looking into making a few hundred copies myself to sell online.

After the Expo, I was contacted by a Professor at a California State University who said he would like to use my book for a class that he teaches. I didn't really understand what kind of class it was but he said some words like "Post modern comic literature and the new economy".... He said he will need 150-300 books depending on his class enrollment. That was very exciting, but I am not sure how I will get so many books so quickly.

I got many emails from people wanting books and shirts and prints after my last video. If you would like one, you can send me an email at kentanakala (at mark) gmail (dot) com.

That is the email address that I live in.

Thanks to all of you for your support.

Ken Tanaka Loves You.